Balbieriškis is a small town in Kaunas County

Kaunas County

Kaunas County is one of ten counties of Lithuania. It is in the centre of the country, and its capital is Kaunas...

 in central Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

. It is situated on the left bank of the Neman River

Neman River

Neman or Niemen or Nemunas, is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches...

. As of 2001 it had a population of 1,180. The town was established by German lumberman Hanus, who received a plot of land in wilderness of Suvalkija

Suvalkija

Suvalkija or Sudovia is the smallest of the five cultural regions of Lithuania. Its unofficial capital is Marijampolė. People from Suvalkija are called suvalkiečiai or suvalkietis . It is located south of the Neman River, in the former territory of Vilkaviškis bishopric...

 from Grand Duke Sigismund I the Old

Sigismund I the Old

Sigismund I of Poland , of the Jagiellon dynasty, reigned as King of Poland and also as the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until 1548...

. Hanus cleared the forest and built an estate. The settlement grew around the estate and was awarded city rights in 1530. However, the privileges were revoked in 1776.